A display terminal of a slim configuration such as an electronic paper and electronic book has been developed in recent years, and there has been an increase in the number of users browsing such contents as materials and documents. This type of display terminal (hereinafter referred to as “content display terminal”) is connected to the network by wired means or wireless means to get content data from a computer apparatus and others. Accordingly, applications to various forms of use have been proposed.
In one of the embodiments, the computer apparatus of a client, a printing apparatus such as a printer and digital multi-functional peripheral (hereinafter referred to as “image forming apparatus”) and a content display terminal are connected to the network in a company and other bodies, and the conference material is outputted from the image forming apparatus or is displayed on the content display terminal.
If a user as a member of a conference has no content display terminal with him, materials must be printed out by the image forming apparatus. Further, even when the user has a content display terminal at hand, the materials may not be displayed because the terminal is not connected with the network, for example; in this case, the materials must be printed out by the image forming apparatus as well. Thus, in the output instruction apparatus for instructing output to these apparatuses, two types of settings are performed—setting for allowing the image forming apparatus to print out materials, and setting for allowing the content display terminal to display data.
A technique related to the control of such multiple types of devices, for example, is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-225551. Disclosed in this Patent Publication is a data processing system capable of outputting data from the printer driver to the paper like display apparatus and/or to the printing apparatus. Further, the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-36987 discloses a printing system for dynamic generation of the print setting screen in conformity to the device.
However, when output conditions are to be set on the multiple types of devices such as an image forming apparatus and content display terminal, a setting must be made for each device type even if setting items are common to multiple types of devices in the conventional technique. This requires complicated and time consuming setting operations. Further, setting errors may occur.
In view of the aforementioned background, it is an object of the present invention to provide an output instruction apparatus and output instruction program that allow easy and reliable setting of the output conditions on multiple types of devices.